Idaho Legislature – VOTE YES on H0606 - Restrooms, opposite sex (Posted: 02/11/26)

• Link: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

• See bill link above for current status and committee assignment

• See Idaho Insider for links where you can send group emails based on current status and committee assignment: gemstatechronicle.com/l…

Summary (ai assisted)

H0606 prohibits any person from knowingly and willfully entering a rest room, changing room, locker room, or shower room in a government-owned building or place of public accommodation designated for the opposite biological sex. Includes reasonable exceptions. (No fiscal impact.)

• Changing room: Defined as a facility where a person may be in a state of undress in the presence of others, including locker rooms, changing rooms, or shower rooms.

• First conviction results in misdemeanor penalties.

• Second or subsequent conviction within five years is a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison.

Exceptions The prohibition does not apply in these cases:

• Performing custodial services or maintenance.

• Rendering medical assistance.

• Providing law enforcement assistance or supervising arrestees, detainees, or inmates.

• During natural disasters, declared emergencies, or to prevent threats to order or safety.

• Using a single-user facility designated for the opposite sex if it's the only one available.

• Using temporarily designated facilities for the person's biological sex.

• Providing coaching or athletic training during events.

• Accompanying and assisting a person in need if the assister is a family member, legal guardian, or designee (not of the facility's designated sex).

Potential Constitutional Contradictions

• US Constitution: May conflict with 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause by classifying based on biological sex, potentially discriminating against transgender individuals, though a similar Idaho school restroom law (SB 1100) was upheld as likely constitutional by the Ninth Circuit under intermediate scrutiny for protecting bodily privacy.

• Idaho Constitution: May implicate Article I, Section 2's equal protection and benefit provision, but no explicit contradiction identified; state human rights law excludes gender identity protections.

Reason for Recommendation to VOTE YES

People, especially biological women and girls, are threatened either psychologically or sometimes physically, when a person of the opposite biological sex is present in a changing room. Likely, many biological men and boys do not appreciate biological women and girls from entering their private spaces either.

There is NO reason for people of the opposite biological sex to enter one of these facilities, other than the exception cases noted in the bill.

This law should be a no-brainer to protect all users of these facilities, whether biological men/boys or biological women/girls. Let’s put this issue to rest(room) now.

Please vote YES on H0606.

Related

• U.S. Constitution 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause: constitution.congress.g…

• Idaho Constitution Article I, Section 2: sos.idaho.gov/elect/stc…

• Idaho Legislature 2026 Bills to Support or Oppose: tinyurl.com/yc2jpkeh